My little cupcakes

As most parents, or at least I like to think what is most parents, I do my best to find the perfect recipe for parenting. 1/3 cup of empathy, 1/2 cup sympathy, 2 heaping full cups of creative and childlike play, 1/4 cup of redirection, 3/4 cup positive reinforcement, 1/2 cup of stern-not quite the fear of God but the fear of mom will suffice, a pinch of the lines in the sand have been drawn, and of course the rising agent for all children 18 tablespoons (1 added gradually each year) of priceless memories of fun times, great places, games, and conversations. Now, granted that this recipe changes sometimes minute to minute and admittedly sometimes (like a cake or two) no matter how well you *think* you have followed the directions, often you don't get the same taste. Well, no matter how much I love to bake this is a reality I have come to understand and accept that yes, in fact, my children have unknowingly become...my little cupcakes. Some days they turn out fantastic, great tasting, great looking, piped just right, with the perfect balance of frosting and cake ratio, very ready to impress. Like yesterday, when my beautiful darlings played and giggled, they loved the beach, used their manners, turned to me in a quiet car and said Mommy, I love you. My baby Charli-bear kissed me over and over to the sound of a pattern muah, muah, muah, muah. And went to bed without even a peep. Goodnight, sleep tight. What perfect little cupcakes, too bad I'm not having company so someone can see how REALLY GREAT I am at this baking thing. Seriously, I could totally own a bakery. Then there are those days where you follow the same recipe, but perhaps the oven was on for just a bit too long or maybe the eggs and the butter didn't quite come to room temp. It is on these days that even in my best attempts, I would still rather flick myself in the nose then have to tell my toddler (100 times) that her sister is not a ragdoll and to keep her hands to herself, fight over cutting a sandwich in the wrong direction, step on one more damn lego, repeat the same answer to the same question for the tenth time, watch one more episode of Doc McStuffin, and seriously my dear one year old, must you continue to break my blinds!!! ENOUGH! Mommy needs a TIME OUT! Alas, silence, duped, I have been followed into timeout...(posing the question to myself, am I demonstrating time out wrong too???) Conclusion: hideous, dry, YUCKY cupcakes-more than likely the ones served at tomorrow's brunch -of course they are. I don't have time to make another batch! Granted, not all batches are one extreme or the other and sometimes there are a few in between batches that either look crappy but taste phenomenal (alas, the teaching, breakthrough moments that only a parent truly understands the meaning and rareness of) or the ones that if nothing else we can patch up with a little bit of extra sweet frosting and pretty flower on top (edible of course) that makes it look like we did okay on this batch (I'll refer to this as the "grocery store" if you're a mom-you get this!) Is this making sense? Do you get it? Or is it just me? I know I am asking for alot here, but I'm a woman and I have to admit-who settles for mediocre baked goods?